Control.

I dont particularly like the term control freak, it is an ungracious term, yet lets face it , being in control is important to all of us,yet there are many things we are not in control of.The list of things that can overtake us of which we have no control , can cause us to live in fear, and can cause us disappointment, and frustration. In Revelation 19v6, we are told that the Lord reigns, this means He is in control. Let me end , with a prayer,[ Lord I so often feel fear rising within me , it seems so often things are out of control in my life, help me to leave all my fears, frustrations, and worries with you, help me to trust you, my loving heavenly Father, knowing that you are in control, in Jesus name. Amen]

Born again.

You must be born again, this is what Jesus taught,[John 3v7] , it was said to a very religious person, he did not understand what Jesus was saying.In 1 Corinthians 2v14. we are told that the natural person does not understand spiritual truths. The old hymn puts it like this I once was blind but now I see, the new birth is a miracle brought about by the Spirit of God, it takes place when the Spirit of God , moves upon us , we become aware of our need, and see as never before that only Jesus can meet our need, John puts it like this, as many as recieve Christ ,He gaves the right to become a child of God.[ Jn 1v12]

Gentle.

God is many things, a God of justice, wrath, holy,and so on, He is also gentle, so many scriptures show a God of gentleness, one who deals with people in a gentle manner.It is an aspect of God that is so attractive, and appealing, and is a great challenge to me , for so often I am to say the least a bit heavy handed, a bit harsh towards others. the world needs more gentleness.So let us this day be like Him , who was gentle , meek and kind, Jesus.

Srength.

In the book of Neh 8 v10 we are told , that the joy of the Lord is our stength, in that little letter of Philippians the apostle stresses joy, of rejoicing continually, when he wrote those words he was a prisoner. Surely there is a joy in the Christian life that we can experience day by day, it cannot be woe is me all the time. This joy is not based on trivia it is the joy of the Lord, it is something only the child of God has, for only they have the the Lord. There may be many things in your life that are difficult, but just ask the Lord to fill you with His joy.

Preaching.

Although I feel called to preach, I still find it the most challenging of activities, it is not something that comes easy. First of all you have to discover what your going to preach on, most times that is not so difficult, yet it can be, then the preparation, that can be hard work, then the preaching of it, all very challenging.Why do it if it is so hard?, the answer Gods calling.Mybe God has called you , or is calling you , obey it, simply because obedience is what it is all about, that applies to everything, not just that special calling on our lives , everything.

Faith alone.

One of the things the N.T. writers seek to do, is bring a balanced view into their teaching, we are saved by faith alone, through grace, alone. One of my favourite books is by P. Yancey. called, Whats so amazing about grace, a wonderful book. Grace alone ,faith alone,but what about balance in our Christian life?. Well heres how I see it, if you read James and John letters, it appears to me they are simply teaching, the life that has experienced the grace of God , must manifest the reality of that experience, you cant have one without the other.This does not weaken the doctrine of , grace or faith alone, it strengthens it, as our Saviour taught we are known by our fruits.

The path I must go.

Consider our Saviour , consider the path He had to go, and how few really understood where he going , or what He had to do, continually He was misunderstood . There is a lesson in this for all of us, you see God has placed a calling on all our lives, the question is are we following that calling?. In obeying Gods calling on our lives remember , you are leaving yourself open to be misunderstood, and you must take up your cross and follow Jesus, irrespective of what people think or say.

He has a plan and a purpose.

Consider these words from Romans 8 v29 , For God knew His people in advance,and He chose them to become like His Son. You becoming a Christian was not by chance , consider Ephesians 1v4 .Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us, it is a mystery. But there is more, His purpose ,He chose us to become like His Son ,all the events and circumstances of our lives are for this purpose,that we may be like Jesus.

Keeping life in proportion.

It is so easy to loose sight of what we have, the many blessings we have, often we look at life in an unbalanced way.We may be suffering from an illness , but we have medicine, let me encourage you to look for the mercies, life will always have its downside, thats the nature of life, but let us trace the rainbow through the rain. Look up today and give thanks unto God , do it in faith, honour your Lord, give thanks with a grateful heart, in Jesus name.

Keep right on to the end of the road.

The apostle Paul wrote ,I have finished my course,that means he had kept the faith, he had not given up in his following Jesus. If you read his life you would see just how much he had to cope with,2Corinthians. 11v23-27, imprisonments, floggings, being stoned, etc, but he kept his eyes on the prize, on the finish line. A song goes ,are you getting weary in the struggle of it all, well are you? be honest to yourself, and be honest with your Lord,there is a favourite song I often sing, it goes like this,I traveled down a lonely road, and no one seemed to care, The burden on my back drove me to dispair,I oft complained to Jesus how folk were treating me. And then I heard Him say so tenderly. My feet were also weary upon the Calvry road. The cross became so heavy I fell beneath the load. Be faithful weary pilgrim, the morning I can see,Just lift your cross and follow close to Me.

Precious.

There are many things that are precious, you have that little person in lord of the rings, who speaks of the ring as , my precious, and of course this obsessed and destroyed him. It is sad to say that many are obsessed with that which they consider precious,the result ,destruction, our Saviour said what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loose his own soul. The most important and precious thing we possess is our souls, we must value that more than anything else, God does, we just have to look to the cross, where Jesus shed his precious blood. in order to save us.

Strength.

Many of us know the story of Samson, the weak strong man, he paid a price for his weakness, we come to the point in the story , were he had his hair cut by the Philistines, He is unaware of what has happened, so we have him saying, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. the result of this he lost his strength. What can we learn from this? there are many lessons in this story for us to benifite from, here is one,rely on the Lord for the strength, you need for this day, whatever natural abilities we have ,let us never loose sight where are true strength lies. Philippians 4v 13 reads, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

DISCERNMENT.

I watched the God channel ,a young man was standing before a vast audience, ministering, as the T.V. camera swept through that vast audience, I ask the question,how discerning were they?. An old pastor said to me once never loose discernment, very wise advice, be emotional, but also be discerning,ask God to give you discernment, there are so many voices speaking to us, more than ever we need discernment, our Saviour was very discerning, He needed to be, so do we, Crudens in his concordance describes discernment in the following way,understanding, ask and you shall recieve

Angry.

I was in a cafe recently, an elderly person was being served before me, as he give his order it was obivious to me he was hard of hearing, the person serving him did not take this into account, I felt she was rude to him. When it came to my turn to be served, I was served by another assistant, I spoke in a quite manner,expressing my concern as to how the assistant had dealt with that elderly person,I believe the point got home. Ephesians 4v26. tells us to be angry and sin not, there is a lot of things in this world , that are wrong, the danger is we can feel whats the point we cant do anything. or mybe we dont want to, God is never neutral as regards wrong in whatever guise it shows itself. In making our protest we should not be unkind or rude, or condemning,let us remember, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he falls.

Overwhelmed.

I dont know about you , but sometimes one feels a bit overwhelmed, by life , the inward struggle ,the challenge of the Christian life ,you get the picture, someone said to me recently, I appear not to change, not so, outward appearances can be deceptive. The fact of the matter is I struggle I just try to not let people see it, I find the apostle Paul an honest person, he often admits to his struggles, and is humble enough to ask for prayer[Eph 6v 19]. Listen, the Lord uderstands more than anyone , He is fully aware how we feel , He is not judging you, and he would whisper into your heart, THAT HE LOVES YOU, Isaiah 431-3 ,Do not be afraid , for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name ,you are Mine. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown, When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you.For I am the Lord your God.

The Gulf.

Things sometimes happen that brings home to us, the gulf between, what we aspire to be and what we are, our temper surfaces again, just when we thought we were making progress in that area of our lives.What can we learn from this, well, we need to keep relying on the Lord, we are being reminded that saved though we be ,we are still in this body of flesh .Galatians 5v17ff is helpful, for it reminds us that we still have a sinful nature, so we will be prone to sin, but most important we have the Holy Spirit, He is in our lives to help us,v16[Gal 5v16], instructs us , let the Holy Spirit guide your lives,v 25, let us follow the Spirits leading, and in Ephesians 5 v18 ,to be filled with the Holy Spirit. so today let us in the words of a modern song pray , Holy Spirit we welcome you.

Misrepresent

In James 5v11 we read , the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy,as I look back on my life I wonder just how many times, I have misrepresented the Lord in my preaching, conversation ,actions, etc, in Hebrews 1v3 ,we read, The Son radiates Gods own glory and expresses the very character of God,what a person, what a life, He never once misrepresented His Father.God has given us a new day forget the pass, ask God to enable you to rightly represent Him, with all those you come into contact with today.

Turning the other cheek.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and rightly so , he was such a brave person, paid the ultimate price for his cause, death.There is always a price to pay if we are going to take a stand for what we believe in, Jesus said follow me, there must be a price to pay as we respond to His call. Take the challenge to turn the other cheek , the challenge is to not to retallate, but it goes much deeper than this, you remember the words of Jesus on the cross, forgive them, He was not only showing us not to retallate, but also to have a loving and forgiving attitude towards those would seek to hurt us, with words or phyisical force.

The challenge.

I read this today in a daily reading,[ one sanctimonious hypocrite makes a hundred unbelievers]J. Davidson]. The challenge is this ,to be like Jesus,and yet he was hated, to the natural man, there was no beauty in him, nevertheless the challenge is to be like Jesus. Can we rise to this challenge? we must , irrespective of how people react, we are not out to impress people, but we desire to see people coming to know and love Jesus, Jesus said you shall be my witnesses when you recieve the Holy Spirit, may the Lord so fill us with His Holy Spirit, and who knows what may happen.

Anticipate.

One of the important things you learn , when driving, is not to anticipate what another driver is going to do. When it comes to the future we are not to anticipate what is going to happen , if we are honest , we nearly always anticipate the worst. and so we worry. Consider what Jesus said, dont worry about tomorrow,[Matthew 6v34], pray about tomarrow, but live today trusting Him ,who holds all our tomorrows, I love those words in Jeremiah 29 v 11, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope, so let us stop anticipating the worse.

Great advice.

In James 1v19. we read the following ,You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak,.What great wisdom there are in these word, quick to listen,Chad Varah the founder of the Samaritans, would select volunteers who were not prudish or preachy, he said, the prudish want to sit in judgment and the preachy want to talk and not to listen. One of the great things about our relationship with the Lord is ,He listens, so let not jump in with our pearls of wisdom, let us listen.

Frustrations.

I am sure I am not on my own, when I admit there are times when I feel frustrated,one prays about certain things, sometimes for years, and those things remain unchanged. Here are a few examples, church situations, illness, people, restrictions,and so we could go on, you take one step forward, and then four steps backward.How are we to look at frustrations?.Well ,one lesson I have learned from frustration is patience, if we are going to be like Jesus, and thats Gods purpose for all of us without exception, just consider how patience, God is with all of us, so as we face frustration today remember have patience.

Keep on going.

The most dramatic words in the Bible were uttered by Jesus on the cross,It is finished,[John 19v30], this was a victory cry, He had fully accomplished the work of salvation, He did not give up .The great lesson we can learn from this is not to give up, when things are hard,when your own reasoning says , whats the point, dont give up, I can think of so many who give up for one reason or another. Consider the following, Looking unto Jesus......who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Hebrews 12v2] ,the words of a little song comes to mind, it goes,When the road is rough and steep, turn your eyes upon Jesus He alone has power to keep , turn your eyes upon Him.

Nice people.

I know we are all sinners, yet I know a lot of nice non Christians, I work with a lot of nice people, I suppose it is hard for us to believe they are going to hell.I have a nice neighbour a Mr Page, his wife who died was a Christian, he use to repair my boys bike, he is a nice person.I was speaking to him the other day, I mentioned something spiritual, and he just ignored it . Lets never loose sight of this truth ,everyone without exception needs Jesus, even nice people, emotionally we may find this hard to accept, but a loving God tells us it is so, because even nice people are sinners, and need Christ.

Restrictive practices.

On the news we have the sad report of a dear Jehovah witness girl dying because she would not accept a blood transfusion. I thought on this and how our Saviour was faced with regulations and restrictions,and on the other side peoples needs, what did He do? he cut across those rules and regulations, and met the need . The religion of this world has the smell of death about it ,Christ came that we may be free from human bondage, free from man made rules, Jesus said, The thief comes to steal, to kill,to destroy, but He came so that people might have life and have it more abundantly [John 10v10]

Not alone.

A number of years ago Nicky Cruze ,[I hope I have spelt his name correctly] wrote a book called ,Alone yet not Alone, let us take encouragement from this great truth , we have one who is is with us today, and every day, Jesus. Think what that means in your life today , he is with you, dont let the enemy of your soul discourage you, remind him that you are not on your own. tell him that the lord is with you, a little song comes to mind, No never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me , never to leave me alone.

What ever.

Often it is hard to have a balanced view ,healing, suffering, those things we could call the opposites, preachers declare Gods power ,and ability to heal , to provide. Now many years ago I went to Bible college,I was married , had three children, and no money, so for the next four years, we had to trust God to meet our needs, and He did, it was hard ,a time of testing, but we got through, we learned valuable lessons.Now there was another couple there, who had to leave college , because of lack of funds, why? I am not even going to attempt to answer that, I dont know, but this I know , what ever the Lord permits us to go through, Romans 8 v28 is true, ALL THINGS ARE WORKING TOGETHER FOR GOOD, TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD.

Out of sight out of mind.

Often on the news great disastors barely get a mention,in the 19th century in Ireland, one million people died in a potato famine, a terrible thing, much was and is made of this, and rightly so,but about that time ,about eight million people died in India from famine and disease, we only hear of the famine in Ireland. It is it seems sometimes easy to ignor those things that dont affect us,things that should affect us, like abortion, unemployment,the vunerable, the inequalities, the lost, those who have never heard the Gospel, as you hear of tragidies in some far away place,or some place near, involve yourself in prayer,and if possible in helping.

Come.

We have all have recieved invitations,to different events, the Gospel of course is an invitation, to come to Christ ,and know our sins forgiven, and to recieve eternal life. It seems to good to be true, unbelievable, but the wonder of this is, it is true. Now you would think people would be falling over themselves to accept this invitation, but not so ,the vast majority of people ignor ,neglect,and even resent it, strange but true. Let us not despair , God by his wonderful grace saved us, inspite of ourselves, remember ,what He has done for us ,he can do for others ,so keep witnessing and keep on praying,keep on giving out the invitation for people to come, who knows what God will do.

Change.

I am over sixty ,things are changing ,my health is changing for one thing, as I look back on life I can recall many changes, many,technology , social, personal. Change is ever going on , climate change, and so we could go on.There is a verse in Hebrews 13v8, which reminds us of a very wonderful truth , it goes like this, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever. in this changing world ,He remains the same, His love for you and me remains the same, He is not a fair weather friend, here today and gone tomorrow, no, He will love us irrespective of change.